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Stevan Ridley is banged up, the team added four players to the injury report, Vince Wilfork hasn’t gone on injured reserve yet and the team signed Austin Collie, according to a source. That’s not to mention the continuing recovery of Danny Amendola and Rob Gronkowski.

In order to tackle all of those subjects in one post, I thought, “what better time for a mailbage.”

We’ll start with the most multi-pronged question from my longtime follower @deejhaysun:

-I think Talib is starting to get mentioned with the elite cornerbacks of the NFL. He deserves it for how he’s played this year.

-Collins is a hard player to forecast. I think he could be a very good cover linebacker who had the ability to rush the quarterback from the edge. I wouldn’t be shocked to see some 3-4 alignments with Collins at outside linebacker and Rob Ninkovich at defensive end.

-At this rate, I don’t expect Spikes back, but a lot can change.

-I think the Patriots try their hardest to trade Mallett for decent value this offseason.

-There’s varying reports out about Armstead. I’ve heard he’s not very close to coming back.

-Agreed on Edelman.

-M&Ms, especially if we’re talking the peanut or almond varieties.

How far will the Chiefs make it this year?-@Xpigtiav

I think the Chiefs are legit this year. I don’t expect them to challenge the Broncos, but I think they’ll be in the playoffs.

Alex Smith may feel screwed by Jim Harbaugh after what went down last year, but I think the 49ers’ head coach helped Smith out quite a bit while they were in San Francisco together. Smith still can’t throw downfield, but he’s looked like a different, more confident player.

Kansas City had a lot of nice pieces in place last year. They just didn’t have a quarterback or head coach. Now that those are solidified, they have a shot at competing this year.

Should the Patriots re-sign Talib now or try and wait until seasons end? They could still franchise him, but that’s $10 million for one year. He’s proven his worth.-@natehask

I think Talib is an elite cornerback, but it’s in the team’s best interest to wait. I think the Patriots should franchise him. Talib is a play you like to have a short leash. The franchise tag will be a lot of money, but a long-term deal would likely be even more guaranteed money.

Talib is playing his best football right now on a one-year deal. The Patriots could double that contract and it would still be a bargain if Talib is playing at this level next year.

What are the chances Danny Amendola, Kenbrell Thompkins, Aaron Dobson and Stevan Ridley play on Sunday? How will Austin Collie work in this offense?-@TGoodale

If I had to list them by most likely to least likely to play, it would go Thompkins, Ridley, Dobson, Amendola. I don’t expect Amendola to play on Sunday, but I would not be shocked if he did suit up. It looks like he’s close from what I saw at practice.

I don’t expect Collie to be around for very long this season. I think they signed a receiver because they have four players at that position on the injury report (Matthew Slater is the fourth). Collie’s a smart player who should be able to pick up the offense quick enough to possibly compete this year. He was used as a slot receiver in Indianapolis, but he can also play outside.

Do you think we sign Julian Edelman again and what kind of deal?-@Sangulo9

If he keeps playing at the same level, he may be out of the Patriots’ price range. It would be great to have Edelman back, especially given Amendola’s injury concerns, but Edelman is playing like a starting receiver, and the team already has Thompkins, Dobson and Boyce waiting in the wings and getting better every day.

Re-signing Talib was the best decision this team made during the offseason. Re-signing Edelman comes in a close second, though.

Julian Edelman has demonstrated skill, determination, and expertise. He filled in admirably in one case for Wes Welker, prompting some people to think of him as a Wes Welker clone. Later, we ran into the same serious set of deficiencies on defense that we had in the Troy Brown era, and Edelman did just what Brown did: fill in at slot cornerback until other players were available. He has been one of the best punt returners in the game over the past couple of years, and he seems to be emerging as a leading receiver, amassing statistics not terribly far off (except for touchdown stats) the numbers that Wes Welker has this year for the Broncos. Given all of that, I would try to sign Edelman to a 2-3 year deal worth $12-15 Million. I think he has demonstrated that much worth. At the same time, Dobson, Thompkins, Boyce and a few of the other young players could potentially develop similar skills. If a 2-3 year deal cannot be reached, I'd try for another year. If they cannot sign him (but they should try hard), they should try to get some value out of his contract rather than just let him loose to free agency with no return.

Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 5:37pm

That is ridiculous if they don't sign edelman after how amendola's been injured so often. hes shown consistency and they need to sign him long term since they already let go of every other veteran.

Thu, Oct 3, 2013 at 8:00pm

Thats all true but Edelman is a constant concern for injury himself and right now hes playing good. Don't mean to be a hater but he's just playing good right now it's not like hes young and developing into a pro i think he already hit his ceiling.